Popcorn fics
by Saro
Summary: A collection of 7 unrelated 100 word one-shots.
1. Chapter One

A/N: I believe a couple other people have posted these. In any event, these are 100 word stories which I wrote in response to a challenge on the ID forum. Enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Complete   
  
Miroku was a wreck, tired and worn, his muscles sore from maintaining the serene façade he cultivated. The others sensed his tension, and let him be. How could they know what it felt like to find one's self faced with the day they had alternately dreaded and hoped would come? The day he'd been waiting for since he first learned the nature of his curse?   
  
Kagome appeared from the door to Kaede's hut, and offered the monk a supportive smile.   
  
"How does it feel to be a father?" she asked, stepping aside for him.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Gift   
  
Inuyasha wasn't sure what woke him at first. He was normally a light sleeper--his childhood and his genes had conspired against him ever getting that eight hours Kagome swore by. He blinked, sitting up straighter to see his surroundings.   
  
Where was Kagome? Though he'd never admit it aloud, he was worried about her. Since Naraku had been defeated, she seemed. . . different. More withdrawn from her friends here.   
  
Where was she?   
  
Then he noticed what had woke him. His hand went to his throat, hoping he was wrong.   
  
The beads were gone. She took them with her when she left.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Heads or Tails   
  
Her eyes? Beautiful. Amazing. A man could live in those eyes, would she only turn them on him with hope or compassion, or, dare I suggest, love. I think her eyes are my favorite part of her whole sublime body.   
  
But wait, what about her lips? True, they frown more often that they ought, but they are the most perfect lips when she smiles.   
  
Split the difference then, and say her face is my favorite.   
  
Yet my eyes fall to her swaying hips.   
  
"Houshi-sama, where are you looking?!"   
  
Her fist is certainly my least favorite part.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Stained  
  
Inuyasha's gaze lingered on his hands. They weren't human hands. They were slimmer than most men's, the long fingers terminating in wicked claws. He had torn apart demons with them to defend himself and his friends, or to reclaim the shards of the Shikon Jewel. He had killed with his hands, until the blood seemed to seep into every pore, staining them with its fatal stink.   
  
He wasn't sure that they ought to be allowed to touch something so precious, or so breakable.   
  
The infant snuggled closer to her mother's breast, making a fist of her own tiny, clawed hands.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Downfall  
  
This new human era. . . tired him. The grey miles of cities stretching out to forever, connected by a vast wed of concrete. It hurt his eyes. It filled his ears with the constant roar of machines. It burned his nose with the smell of ash and poison.   
  
Once he had been the great Sesshomaru, but somewhere along the line, he had lost his drive, his spite, and in the end even the pride, which had sustained him through two centuries or more, gave out.   
  
It was odd to think that his half-brother would outlive him.  
  
*~**~*  
  
A Mother's Love   
  
Inuyasha was sleeping. Finally. Hatsuyo smiled at the sight of her baby: his scrunched, tiny face, soft body, and miniature hands and feet, with the proper number of digits apiece. She'd been worried at first when he hadn't opened his eyes to greet her, but Inutaisho had explained it was the way of Inuyoukai. She expected them to open any day. Folded flat against his skull was a pair of soft puppy ears, almost lost in his downy fringe of hair.   
  
She felt her smile quiver and tears stung her eyes. Why couldn't anyone else see that he was perfect?  
  
*~**~*  
  
As You Are   
  
Kagome looked down at her hands. They were not the firm, smooth hands of youth. Instead they were worn, rough hands, toughened with an archer's calluses and life. They were the hands of a strong, middle-aged woman.   
  
Looking up, she sought the still young face of her hanyou lover and asked, "Why do you stay with me? I look old enough to be your mother."   
  
"Why didn't you let me become human for you?" he asked by way of a reply.   
  
"Because I love you the way you are," Kagome answered without hesitation.   
  
"Same reason."  
  
*~**~* 


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated Synthetic Emotions in a while. I am working on it, and hopefully I'll be able to post soon. Anyway, here are a few more shorts I came up with in the interim.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Gambit   
  
Broken and forgotten, Kagura lay bleeding in the dust. She could hear the chaotic music of the fighting as Naraku withstood each assault. No matter how much damage he took, he simply reformed. Nothing could win through his maze of limbs.   
  
The wind youkai hauled herself upright. She could feel her strength ebbing, and a suggestive numbness was slowly creeping in. Perhaps she was dying. She didn't know. With a flick of her wrist she opened her fan.   
  
If she must die, she would die free.   
  
"Fuujin no Mai."   
  
Her wind blades flew straight at his spider-scarred back.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Storytime   
  
"Once upon a time there was a fierce hanyou named Inuyasha, who was the son of a powerful youkai and a beautiful human woman," Kagome told the child in her lap. "Inuyasha fell in love with a shrine maiden who protected the Shikon no Tama..."   
  
"Great-grandpa told me about the Shikon no Tama!" the little girl chirped happily.   
  
"Do you want me to tell you this story or not?" Kagome scolded.   
  
"But Mama, I asked you to tell me a story about Papa."   
  
Kagome gave her daughter's canine ear a quick tweak. "Another time, perhaps."  
  
*~**~*  
  
In The Blood   
  
Father always said blood would tell, when I would complain about the hanyou.   
  
I remember him clearly as he told me that no scion of our line would ever disgrace themselves in the end. He assured me that our noble heritage would always throw true. And he presented me with Tenseiga.   
  
The hanyou's woman knelt crying beside his still shape. Her denials did nothing to change the truth. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only creature with the power to turn back death.   
  
Blood would tell. To think, all these years I thought he spoke of Inuyasha.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Like Father, Like Son   
  
"There are very few advantages to being dead. Oh, of course a virtuous monk like myself could have chose to move on to a higher incarnation, or perhaps even could have achieved Nirvana, but like a dutiful father I chose to remain behind to watch over my son as he continues the quest to rid our line of Naraku's curse. Children need looking after, you know," a serene, priestly ghost explained.   
  
Another ghost, a noble woman who kept an eye on Inuyasha, crossed her arms over her chest. "Houshi-sama, that does not explain why you were watching those girl bathe."  
  
*~**~*  
  
A/N: I tried spacing the stories out a little more to see if that made the length a little less jarring. I realize it's a very artificial separation, but it might help a little. If it continues to be a problem, I might go back and repost each story as its own chapter.  
  
I've found that a couple of these--particularly Storytime, but also In The Blood--left some readers confused. If you want clarification on either or them, or any of my other stories for that matter, feel free to tell me in a review or email.  
  
Until next time. 


End file.
